Are You Ready for the Three-Dimensional CMO?

Once upon a time, you could become a CMO on the strength of one attribute. A marketer in the fashion industry needed to be “creative.” Rising through the marketing ranks at an insurance company probably meant you needed to know analytics. But tomorrow’s CMO must be a three-dimensional marketer possessing a social sciences background, brilliant design savvy, and quantitative methods. Brands need to be ready to look outside traditional marketing/communications disciplines to find these skills. -- Written by Roger Wood, Vice President, Digital Media, iCrossing

Once upon a time, you could become a CMO on the strength of one attribute. A marketer in the fashion industry needed to be “creative.” Rising through the marketing ranks at an insurance company probably meant you needed to know analytics. But tomorrow’s CMO must be a three-dimensional marketer possessing a social sciences background, brilliant design savvy, and quantitative methods. Brands need to be ready to look outside traditional marketing/communications disciplines to find these skills. -- Written by Roger Wood, Vice President, Digital Media, iCrossing

Once upon a time, you could become a CMO on the strength of one attribute. A marketer in the fashionindustry needed to be "creative." Rising through the marketing ranks at an insurance company probablymeant you needed to know analytics. But tomorrow’s CMO must be a three-dimensional marketer possessinga social sciences background, brilliant design savvy, and quantitative methods. Brands need to be ready tolook outside traditional marketing/communications disciplines to find these skills.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL CMO

The three-dimensional marketer has emerged from a lengthy and dramatic evolution of marketing that includes a dramatic rise,fall, and rise again.For most of the Twentieth Century, senior marketing leaders rose through the ranks of their respective companies on the strengthof one attribute, and in many cases that one attribute came to dominate the marketing strategy of the company with varyingdegrees of success. If the senior marketer was a whiz at distribution channel marketing, then the company pursued dominance inchannel marketing. If product testing was the background of the senior leader, then focus groups and behavioral data prevailed.

PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble typied this kind of approach.

This circumstance prevailed until about 1985. Then, for all kinds of reasons, (e.g., the assembling and disassembling of conglomerates)the marketing executive declined in pre-eminence. Administrators began to take over. Uninspiring personalities focused more onrisk mitigation than on setting the direction of brand and its promise to the customer. Many of these administrators were merelybrand stewards. They relied on well-worn mechanisms for maintaining market share and margin and then simply reported on salesweek after week. Some of the world’s greatest marketing machines shrank from greatness, beaten into mediocrity by the demandfor incremental quarterly growth. As the likes of Sergio Zyman, Angel Martinez, and Geoffrey Frost slipped into a middle age, the

ame of inspiration was extinguished. That same year Steve Jobs left Apple. After a "Dark Ages" period in the history of marketing, around 2000 visionaries such as Steve Jobs, Ralph Lauren, and Howard

Shultz resurrected marketing as the primary driver of growth and creator of value. The visionaries successfully advocated creatingshareholder value with inspired user experience design, a practical application of social science, and a dedication to measuring all

aspects of marketing effectiveness – as opposed to nancial and process tinkering that brought about timid, incremental quarterly

earnings growth.The marketers who thrived during this renaissance period created billions in market capitalization. The new breed of marketer also

injected energy and air into modern-day marketing practices through their application of quantitative methods, social science,

The new breed of marketer to emerge during the Renaissance period also helped other marketers understand that it was no longersufcient to study consumers in a focus group the way one might study a group of test tubes in a biology lab. Understanding

the science of how people really think, interact with each other and ideas, and why they do what they do, was transformed into alegitimate business skill. These are the essence of the social sciences: psychology; anthropology; sociology; and political science.

Method Cleaning Products of San Francisco jolted SC Johnson by injecting political science into cleaning products, of all things.

Starbucks used the anthropology of why and when people gather to challenge every tea shop in Asia, kaffeehaus in Northern

Europe, café in the Mediterranean, and diner in America. And Ralph Lauren mastered the psychology of self-transformation andself-identity. His imagined worlds have become the real world that we’ve voluntary chosen to live in.

Brilliant design of experiences and product gave birth to insurgent companies that toppled the largest, best-administeredcompanies on earth. With the exception of Sony and a few others, companies largely relegated design to the bottom of theirlists of priorities. Many CMOs didn’t even have a sense of style themselves, yet nonetheless burdened the product teams andmarketers with their dull sensibilities. Now Dyson is the most potent brand in vacuums, expanding rapidly into new areas oncebereft of intelligent design. Clif Bar is challenging One a Day Multivitamins through innovative designs for delivering nutrition in

new and exciting ways. CamelBak and Dakine have taught JanSport and L.L.Bean to think differently about what people want to

carry on their backs.But no longer can a marketer possess just one of those traits to thrive. Now you need all three: quantitative methods, socialsciences, and brilliant design savvy. The digital world is a measurable and attributable one that demands ever-more sophisticatedways to measure return on ad spend, as my iCrossing colleague Doug Bryan discussed in awhite paperon why CMOs needto care about media mix modeling and attribution conversion. And as we all know now, consumers are using social media andconsumer-generated content to empower themselves far more than ever before, which is why no CMO can succeed without abackground in social science. But appealing to numbers and our social natures won’t differentiate your brand. If Apple has taughtus anything, it’s that brilliant design differentiates. Not fancy design. Not complicated design. But brilliant design – which can

come in the form of a simple Google home page or an elegantly laid out shopping oor.

What was the catalyst for the rise of three dimensional marketing? I can think of a few:

Remember, Steve Jobs once worked for Atari, and went on to build the most revolutionary handheld game platform ever with the

iPod Touch.

QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Jeff Bezos emerged from Wall Street with a revolutionary concept of a marketing empire built on a foundation of applied

mathematics. Almost overnight, at Amazon he revolutionized the process of measuring consumer behavior.With Bezos, measuring consumer behavior was old school – anticipating consumer behavior was new school. Amazon emblazoneda path that changed the fundamental quantitative methods required to be a leading retailer with algorithms that "learned" yourtastes based on what you bought, expressed intent to buy, or gifted to others. It was genius, and everyone from the mighty

Walmart to Sears confronted a new reality. Bezos was the rst large-scale "Pixel Marketer."

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The barriers to entry to every industry are lower. Anyone with an idea can bring it to life. Venture capital is moresophisticated and daring, fueled by cheap money. So, no oligopoly is safe from insurgents.

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Consumers have changed dramatically. People are better informed, more discriminating, and more ckle than ever. So

new skills are needed to sell them in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer models.

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The talent and ambition of people both young and old has changed. If you don’t reward talented people with opportunity

and challenge, they’ll leave your company and bring a ght to your doorstep you won’t soon forget.

In the previous section, I identied companies like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks that embody elements of three-dimensional

marketing. These companies are acting as three-dimensional marketers. Consider them to be the inaugural members of the

Three-Dimensional Marketing Hall of Fame:

These brands are the bellwethers – the ones setting the pace for their industries through their combination of quantitative methods,social science, and brilliant design.

IndustryExamplesComment

Apparel and AccessoriesCamelBaK, Incase, Ralph Lauren,Victoria’s SecretVictoria’s Secret deployed innovative software for trackingcustomer relationships. The company transformed the designof a forgotten garment, with great effect. And, Victoria's Secrettapped into sociology. Nearly every guy on Wall Street at onepoint had a Victoria Secret catalog in his desk drawer.AutomotiveAudi, Subaru, ToyotaSubaru knows its fans with incredible accuracy. And, Subaru'sfans seem to have an almost familial bond. Meanwhile, the carslook like no other, and you can make out its distinctive silhouettefrom afar. A real 3D marketing favorite.Food and BeverageClif Bar, FIJI Water, Hershey’sFIJI water has some of the most sophisticated logistics in thebusiness, and its Hollywood appeal broke new ground in masspsychology. Every film director asked for a "FIJI," and assistantspromptly handed them one with a silver holder on its base.The industrial design of the bottle eclipsed Perrier in unaidedrecognition. A star was born.Personal CareKiehl’s, L’Oréal, NIVEAL’Oréal's well-oiled machine enables world-class channelmanagement for a brand without its own retail presence. Itssocial science tactics have no peer: L’Oréal is synonymous withbeauty. Every single L'Oréal item is encased with breathtakingdesign sensibilities.TechnologyApple, Bose, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo DS,SkullcandyApple is celebrated, but Bose has always been by its side – acalm, reassuring companion to the excitable friend. Bose'sdirect marketing precision, timeless design, and the veritablecult it has built around the brand is a Hall-of-Fame turn in 3Dmarketing.Travel and LeisureMarriott Residence Inn, Ritz-Carlton,Royal Caribbean, Vail ResortsRitz-Carlton really gets it right. Unlike other high-end hotels, itsquantitative approach to customer relationship managementdoesn’t distract from the luxury. Its experiences for families andbusiness travelers alike consist of social science focused oncreating enduring memories. And, for the most part, you alwaysknow a Ritz-Carlton when you see one – the architecture isalways captivating without being overwhelming.RetailJanie & Jack, Nordstrom, West ElmWest Elm is like a math major who minored in design. One ofthe most precise quantitative marketers in home furnishings,West Elm gets high marks for sensible loft-inspired design and adisarming atmosphere.